Inbreeding to Failure

Do you have kids?  

Did you spend a few thousand dollars doing genetic testing on yourself and your husband/spouse before having kids?

Probably not.  Very, very few people do.

Most PEOPLE are fine though, even if they are the human equivalent of being “backyard bred.”

You know WHY the vast majority of people skip genetic testing and are fine?

Simple:  most people are breeding outside of a narrow gene pool.  

Breeding outside of a narrow gene pool means doubling down on bad genes drops precipitously.

In addition, most issues are genetically complex, and so there is no simple genetic test to predict future outcome.

Schizophrenic?  Bipolar? Heart issues?  Most cancer? 

Alzheimers?  Auto-immune?  variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (vCJD), depression, ADHD?  

Autism, Celiac, IBS, Hyperthyroidism, Hypothyroidism, Fibromyalgia, Lupus?

Parkinsons, MS, PCOS, Endometriosis?

There’s no genetic test for any of that.

The things for which there are no simple genetic tests in humans is long, and it’s even longer in dogs.

You know why some folks do genetic testing before having kids?  

Generally, because they have a known, serious medical issue for which there *is* a test.  

This is most common in human populations with severe genetic bottle necks.  Think Tay-Sachs disease in Ashkenazi Jews, where the carrier frequency is 1 in 27.

Bottom line:  The “ethical breeders” in the pedigree dog world lean on a handful of genetic heath tests *because* they know that inbreeding leads to a higher portion of diseased, dysfunctional, and dead dogs with more expensive health care costs and more canine misery.

Genetic testing for a handful of diseases is less a “cure” for the core problem than it is an enabling wand that allows breeders to continue the dysfunctional practice of inbreeding within a closed registry.

The folks who trumpet themselves as “ethical breeders” know there is no genetic test for cancer, no genetic test for Addison’s disease, no genetic test for hip dysplasia, no genetic test for Cushing, no genetic test for skin issues, and no genetic test for autoimmune issues.

At best, an “ethical breeder” will run *some* genetic tests to try to avoid a few genetically testable problems, while continuing the practice of inbreeding in a closed registry that reliably and predictably leads to more canine disease, more canine health care costs, more canine misery, and shorter life spans.

Will that *always* be the outcome?

No.  It’s possible in some breeds to have low coefficients of inbreeding, even though on average, across Kennel Club breeds, it’s about 25 percent, or the genetic equivalent of a dog produced from a father to daughter mating, or the mating of full-brother/sister.

That said, genetics is largely mathematical, and across a large population of dogs with high coefficients of inbreeding, disease, dysfunction, early death, and infecundity are  predictable over time.

Or, as they say both at the racetrack and at insurance actuary conventions:  “past is not always prologue, but it’s the way to bet your money”.

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I always suggest people read a little about genetics before spouting off sophisms, but that never seems to stop pedigree dog breeders who have lovingly created a whole host of four-legged cancer bombs beset by chronic disease. 

For folks interested in learning a bit about how time, specific animal mating practices, total population size, fecundity, lifepan, genetic drift, and initial genetic variability, play significant roles in genetic viability and variability, see >> https://terriermandotcom.blogspot.com/2011/05/islands-of-wolves-rats-lions-and-dogs.html?